Stop thinking that you are too old to learn how to play the piano! You are able to learn the piano or any other instrument at any age. As long as you want to learn the piano, you can. When you decide to learn the piano, think about what you want out of it. Do you want to learn a specific piece of music, or are you more interested in learning techniques and the chord structures behind it? There are no limits, and you will get as much out of it as what you are willing to put into it.
Adults have the ability to learn a musical instrument, although they usually have less time. So no matter what your age, whether you are ten or one hundred and ten, you can learn the piano well. So what are you waiting for? Start learning today! Here are some ways to learn the piano, each with its own advantages.
１．．．．
This allows you personal, face-to-face lessons — usually on a weekly basis where they are able to teach you and correct you. This is a great way to learn the piano, but you are limited in the contact hours you have with your teacher which may slow your learning.
２．．．．
This would have to be the hardest way because you are just working by yourself and you can never be sure if you have understood the books correctly.
３．．．．
These are quite new to the market. They are video or DVD lessons that you can work through at your own pace. The advantage here is that you have the teacher so you know if you are doing it right, and you can work at your own pace — as quickly or as slowly as you like.
1. What is the purpose of the passage?
A. To tell us why we need to learn to play the piano.
B. To tell us never to lose hope at any age.
C. To encourage us to learn the piano and to give some suggestions.
D. To tell us that nothing is difficult if you put your heart into it.
2. Match each of the following titles with each point.
a. Internet and Video Courses.   
b. Hire a Piano Teacher.
c. Teach Yourself with Books.   
A. 1-a 2-c 3-b         B. 1-b 2-c 3-a
C. 1-b 2-a 3-c         D. 1-c 2-b 3-a
3. According to the author, we know that ______.
A. people who are too old can’t learn the piano
B. kids learn much faster than adults
C. learning by oneself, one may misunderstand the books
D. learning with a teacher is the best way
4. Which of the following old sayings sums up the main idea of the first two paragraphs?
A. Every coin has two sides. 
B. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
C. Let’s cross the bridge when we come to it.
D. You are never too old to learn.

Stop thinking that you are too old to learn how to play the piano! You are able to learn the piano or any other instrument at any age. As long as you want to learn the piano, you can. When you decide to learn the piano, think about what you want out of it. Do you want to learn a specific piece of music, or are you more interested in learning techniques and the chord structures behind it? There are no limits, and you will get as much out of it as what you are willing to put into it.

    Adults have the ability to learn a musical instrument, although they usually have less time. So no matter what your age, whether you are ten or one hundred and ten, you can learn the piano well. So what are you waiting for? Start learning today! Here are some ways to learn the piano, each with its own advantages.

１． ．．．

    This allows you personal, face-to-face lessons — usually on a weekly basis where they are able to teach you and correct you. This is a great way to learn the piano, but you are limited in the contact hours you have with your teacher which may slow your learning.

２． ．．．

    This would have to be the hardest way because you are just working by yourself and you can never be sure if you have understood the books correctly.

３． ．．．

    These are quite new to the market. They are video or DVD lessons that you can work through at your own pace. The advantage here is that you have the teacher so you know if you are doing it right, and you can work at your own pace — as quickly or as slowly as you like.

1. What is the purpose of the passage?

A. To tell us why we need to learn to play the piano.

B. To tell us never to lose hope at any age.

C. To encourage us to learn the piano and to give some suggestions.

D. To tell us that nothing is difficult if you put your heart into it.

2. Match each of the following titles with each point.

a. Internet and Video Courses.   

b. Hire a Piano Teacher.

c. Teach Yourself with Books.   

A. 1-a 2-c 3-b               B. 1-b 2-c 3-a

C. 1-b 2-a 3-c               D. 1-c 2-b 3-a

3. According to the author, we know that ______.

A. people who are too old can’t learn the piano

B. kids learn much faster than adults

C. learning by oneself, one may misunderstand the books

D. learning with a teacher is the best way

4. Which of the following old sayings sums up the main idea of the first two paragraphs?

A. Every coin has two sides. 

B. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

C. Let’s cross the bridge when we come to it.

D. You are never too old to learn.

Stop thinking that you are too old to learn how to play the piano! You are able to learn the piano or any other instrument at any age. As long as you want to learn the piano, you can. When you decide to learn the piano, think about what you want out of it. Do you want to learn a specific piece of music, or are you more interested in learning techniques and the chord structures behind it? There are no limits, and you will get as much out of it as what you are willing to put into it.

    Adults have the ability to learn a musical instrument, although they usually have less time. So no matter what your age, whether you are ten or one hundred and ten, you can learn the piano well. So what are you waiting for? Start learning today! Here are some ways to learn the piano, each with its own advantages.

１． ．．．

    This allows you personal, face-to-face lessons — usually on a weekly basis where they are able to teach you and correct you. This is a great way to learn the piano, but you are limited in the contact hours you have with your teacher which may slow your learning.

２． ．．．

    This would have to be the hardest way because you are just working by yourself and you can never be sure if you have understood the books correctly.

３． ．．．

    These are quite new to the market. They are video or DVD lessons that you can work through at your own pace. The advantage here is that you have the teacher so you know if you are doing it right, and you can work at your own pace — as quickly or as slowly as you like.

1. What is the purpose of the passage?

A. To tell us why we need to learn to play the piano.

B. To tell us never to lose hope at any age.

C. To encourage us to learn the piano and to give some suggestions.

D. To tell us that nothing is difficult if you put your heart into it.

2. Match each of the following titles with each point.

a. Internet and Video Courses.   

b. Hire a Piano Teacher.

c. Teach Yourself with Books.   

A. 1-a 2-c 3-b          B. 1-b 2-c 3-a

C. 1-b 2-a 3-c          D. 1-c 2-b 3-a

3. According to the author, we know that ______.

A. people who are too old can’t learn the piano

B. kids learn much faster than adults

C. learning by oneself, one may misunderstand the books

D. learning with a teacher is the best way

4. Which of the following old sayings sums up the main idea of the first two paragraphs?

A. Every coin has two sides. 

B. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

C. Let’s cross the bridge when we come to it.

D. You are never too old to learn.

  It's not a new phenomenon, but have you noticed how many nouns are being used as verbs? We all use them, often without noticing what we're doing.

    I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week, and I said “I’ll pencil it in my diary”, and my friend said “You can ink it in”, meaning that it was a firm arrangement not a tentative one!

Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology. An obvious example is the word fax, which is a shortening of facsimile originally, an exact copy of a book or document. We all got used to sending and receiving faxes, and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we'd fax it immediately. So, nouns turn into verbs in two easy stages. Then along came email, and we were soon all emailing each other madly. How did we do without it? I can hardly imagine life without my daily emails.

Email reminds me, of course， of my computer and its software, which has produced another couple of new verbs. On my computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I'll want to look at again, thus saving all the effort of remembering their addresses and calling them up from scratch. I can do the same thing on my PC, but there I don't bookmark; I favorite—coming from “favorite pages”, so the verb is derived from an adjective not a noun． I wasn’t really sure whether people said this，but someone told me recently that they had favorited a site I was looking for and so they could easily give me its address.

In the late 1980s I noticed that lots of my friends had acquired pagers, and kept saying things like “I’ll page you as soon as I know what time we’re meeting”. They couldn't say it to me, though; 1 refused to have one． So my children bought me a mobile phone, now known simply as a mobile and I had to learn yet more new verbs. I can message someone, that is, I can leave a message （either spoken or written）for them on their phone．Or I can text them, write a few words suggesting when and where to meet, for example. How long will it be before I can mobile them, that is, phone them using my mobile? I haven’t heard that verb yet, but I’m sure I will soon. Perhaps I’ll start using it myself! 　

“I’ll pencil it in my diary” in the second paragraph probably means          .

    A. it was a firm arrangement　　　　　　　    　B. it was an uncertain arrangement

    C. the arrangement should be written as a diary     D. he prefers a pencil to a pen

A website address can be easily found if it has been＿____.

    A. emailed                   B. messaged                 C. favorited                D. texted

Which of the following has not been used as a verb, yet?

    A. message                   B. page                     C. email                            D. mobile

The best title for this passage is____．

A. New Verbs from Old Nouns　　　　B. The Development of the English language

    C. New Technology and New words    D. Technology and Language.

It's not a new phenomenon, but have you noticed how many nouns are being used as verbs? We all use them, often without noticing what we're doing.

I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week, and I said “I’ll pencil it in my diary”, and my friend said “You can ink it in”, meaning that it was a firm arrangement not a tentative one!

Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology. An obvious example is the word fax, which is a shortening of facsimile originally, an exact copy of a book or document. We all got used to sending and receiving faxes, and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we'd fax it immediately. So, nouns turn into verbs in two easy stages. Then along came email, and we were soon all emailing each other madly. How did we do without it? I can hardly imagine life without my daily emails.

Email reminds me, of course, of my computer and its software, which has produced another couple of new verbs. On my computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I'll want to look at again, thus saving all the effort of remembering their addresses and calling them up from scratch. I can do the same thing on my PC, but there I don't bookmark; I favorite—coming from “favorite pages”, so the verb is derived from an adjective not a noun. I wasn’t really sure whether people said this, but someone told me recently that they had favorited a site I was looking for and so they could easily give me its address.

In the late 1980s I noticed that lots of my friends had acquired pagers, and kept saying things like “I’ll page you as soon as I know what time we’re meeting”. They couldn't say it to me, though; I refused to have one. So my children bought me a mobile phone, now known simply as a mobile and I had to learn yet more new verbs. I can message someone, that is, I can leave a message （either spoken or written）for them on their phone．Or I can text them, write a few words suggesting when and where to meet, for example. How long will it be before I can mobile them, that is, phone them using my mobile? I haven’t heard that verb yet, but I’m sure I will soon. Perhaps I’ll start using it myself! 　

60. “I’ll pencil it in my diary” in the second paragraph probably means              .

A. it was a firm arrangement　　　　　　　    　

B. it was an uncertain arrangement

C. the arrangement should be written as a diary    

D. he prefers a pencil to a pen

61. A website address can be easily found if it has been            .

A. emailed            B. messaged          C. favorited          D. texted

62. Which of the following has not been used as a verb yet?

A. message            B. page                 C. email               D. mobile

63. The best title for this passage is           ．

A. New Verbs from Old Nouns　　　　

B. The Development of the English language

C. New Technology and New words     

D. Technology and Language